Holiday apartment in Costigliole Saluzzo: Culture, Wine and Hills

At the entrance to the Varaita Valley, Costigliole Saluzzo combines historic culture with wine-making traditions and distinctive agricultural features.

Costigliole Saluzzo among Trails and Hills

The municipality of Costigliole Saluzzo promotes hiking and cycling routes through the town and the surrounding hills. The promoted routes therefore pass through two clearly distinguishable areas: the town and the hilly landscape. This creates an alternation between town routes and trails through the countryside when planning a day outdoors, while hiking and cycling are available as different forms of movement.

Monochrome Frescoes and Sacred Art

A series of monochrome frescoes is visible in the attic of the parish church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Costigliole Saluzzo. The fresco cycle depicts several episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene before her conversion. The parish church cemetery chapel also contains a “Cristo di Pietà”, attributed to the Flemish painter Hans Clemer. The frescoes and the painting are therefore located in the surroundings of the same church building, but in different places: the frescoes in the attic and the painting in the cemetery chapel.

Traces of Fortifications and Nobility

Via Porta Grafiona follows the course of the old fortification walls of Costigliole Saluzzo, which were destroyed in 1487. A small statue can be seen on the façade of a house on this street; it was probably originally a tomb slab. Both clues are located on the same street: the street layout preserves the trace of the fortifications, while the statue on a house façade points to an earlier function.

Castello Rosso was built on the ruins of the ancient Castello dei Costanzia and completed around 1625 by the Counts Crotti. Its polygonal layout is protected by three corner towers. On the second upper floor of Castello Rosso there is a rare fresco attributed to Hans Clemer, the so-called Maestro d’Elva, and dated to the late 15th century. The fresco therefore dates from an earlier period than the completion of Castello Rosso around 1625.

The present building of Palazzo Sarriod de La Tour in Costigliole Saluzzo was created through a long series of alterations to a simple tower house.

Quagliano and the Costigliole Apricot

Quagliano is part of the local wine-making tradition. The grapes for the red wine Quagliano are grown on a short strip of hills extending as far as nearby Busca. The Pro Loco of Costigliole Saluzzo organizes the Sagra dell’Uva Quagliano as the main activity promoting the area; it takes place on the last Sunday in September. The fixed date gives the event a clearly defined place in the annual calendar.

The typical round Costigliole apricot is also produced in small orchards operated by families since the 19th century. These orchards represent a different form of agriculture from the wine-growing carried out on the Quagliano hill strip.

Further Places for Orientation

For further regional orientation, you will find Sale San Giovanni, Marsaglia, Vezza D'alba, Villafalletto, Genola, Riassolo, Cossano Belbo and Uccellaccio here.

For the overarching travel overview: Cuneo.